The Ashanti Regional Police Command has ordered the “immediate arrest and detention of the police personnel who were said to have allegedly assaulted one Richmond Osei, 27, a shoe seller at Krofrom that led to his death”.
A sister of the deceased has said her brother’s penis was tasered by the law enforcers as part of the brutal assault that led to his death.
Janet Appiah, who spoke to Class News’ regional correspondent Hafiz Tijani in an exclusive interview, said: “My brother was accosted by a police officer as he returned from the public toilet. He fell down and broke his leg as he attempted fleeing after he had been handcuffed by the police. An officer beckoned him to get up, but he couldn’t as a result of his fractured leg. The police then tasered his penis and his torso to force him to get up. My brother kept crying to our grandmother: ‘Mama, save me’, as the officers dragged him away,” Ms Appiah said.
Angered by the death of the 27-year-old, also known as Kwadwo Tawiah, apparently as a result of police brutalities, about 200 angry youth of the area took to the streets and burnt car tyres as well as vandalised some property to express their frustration against the police over the matter.
The police command said the “unfortunate incident occurred Thursday 26 May at about 21:30 hrs when the said personnel were on night patrol duties within the Asawase and Krofrom areas”.
“Meanwhile, the Kumasi Metropolitan Mayor Kojo Bonsu, together with the regional police commander, DCOP Kofi Boakye; the deputy regional commander, ACP Osei Kweku Ampofu Duku; the crime officer ACP Peter Baba; and some senior police officers visited the family of the deceased this morning [Friday] and assured them of the police administration’s preparedness to investigate the matter to its logical conclusion,” the statement signed by Chief Inspector Godwin Ahianyo said.
The police command has urged the people in the area to “remain calm as the command awaits the post-mortem report to know the actual cause of death in order to take the next line of action as investigations continue”.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com/100.5fm
